In a revealing interview with The Athletic, Kylian Mbappe has opened up on one of football’s greatest “what if” transfer sagas — a near-move to Liverpool back when he was an 18-year-old sensation at Monaco, driven largely by an unlikely influence: his mother.
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Kylian Mbappe’s Mum’s Love Affair With Anfield
“I was close to Liverpool,” Mbappe admitted. “My mum was a big fan of Jürgen Klopp and the favourite destination for my mum was Liverpool. She wanted me to go there.” His mother’s connection to the club ran deep — she travelled to England, visited Anfield, met club staff, and even watched matches alone just to picture her son playing there. “She went to Anfield and fell in love with it,” Mbappe recalled.
The Secret Sky-High Meeting
The negotiations took an extraordinary turn when Klopp flew from Blackpool to Nice on a private jet to meet the Mbappé family, before the plane circled above France while he pitched his vision. “We were turning around and around in the air while he was explaining his project,” Mbappe said, adding that Klopp’s reputation alone was enough to win his interest.
Why He Chose Paris Instead
Despite his mother’s persistent encouragement — “For me, you have to go to Liverpool,” she told him — Mbappe ultimately prioritised staying close to home. “I didn’t listen because I wanted to play in my city, Paris. I didn’t want to leave my country before I was someone,” he explained, a decision that led him to PSG and eventually global superstardom.
Why It Matters
The revelation adds fresh depth to one of modern football’s most fascinating near-transfers, showing how personal ties and hometown pride shaped a decision that altered the trajectories of both Mbappe’s career and Liverpool’s recruitment history in the years that followed.
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